Yale Class of 2013 Forum

[dueprocess14]

With news from the YLS Admissions twitter feed that decisions are coming out later this week, figured I'd start up this thread. I'm deferred from last year, but I'm excited to start talking with my future classmates.

[tinman]

With news from the YLS Admissions twitter feed that decisions are coming out later this week, figured I'd start up this thread. I'm deferred from last year, but I'm excited to start talking with my future classmates.

Welcome back, zabagabe! We are all sorry you deferred for a year.

I hope you get some people to join your thread soon. I will try to answer questions that people might have from the 1Ls. I really appreciated the Yale 2012 thread last year, definitely helped me with my decision of where to go. I hope I can be helpful for the new 0Ls making the tough decision among HLS, SLS, and YLS this year

My best advice for now: Just come to Yale. You will not regret it.

[dueprocess14]

Thanks tinman! As much as I'm glad I'm doing what I'm doing, I was sorry too. Pretty much every night out during the ASW, hanging out with fellow admits, I was thinking how much I wanted to be in classes with you guys. Hopefully this year's bunch will be just as cool.

[tinman]

Thanks tinman! As much as I'm glad I'm doing what I'm doing, I was sorry too. Pretty much every night out during the ASW, hanging out with fellow admits, I was thinking how much I wanted to be in classes with you guys. Hopefully this year's bunch will be just as cool.

I'm sure the class of 2013 will be almost as cool and you should definitely hang out with the 2012 crowd too. It will be a fun time.

[Ranita]

I'm deferred from last year, but I'm excited to start talking with my future classmates.

Same here!

At any rate, meeting new people, discussing Yale, and procrastinating are all better options than grading my students' term papers.

[naruhodo]

Got into YLS a week ago, and almost 100% sure I'll be there next year!

[dueprocess14]

Got into YLS a week ago, and almost 100% sure I'll be there next year!

Woohoo! Congrats. What are you up to between now and next fall? I'm currently chiseling away at a PhD. Can't say I'm looking forward to torts, but having some company in my misery will definitely be more enjoyable!

[naruhodo]

Got into YLS a week ago, and almost 100% sure I'll be there next year!

Woohoo! Congrats. What are you up to between now and next fall? I'm currently chiseling away at a PhD. Can't say I'm looking forward to torts, but having some company in my misery will definitely be more enjoyable!

Thanks! I'm currently on a Fulbright Scholarship in Asia, and I'll be back in July -- just in time to relax for a month and then move down to New Haven.

Torts should be an interesting experience, but I'm just glad YLS doesn't require its students to take property!

[dueprocess14]

Sweet! A friend of mine did a Fulbright in China a couple years back and she had a total blast. And in a surprising twist, property is actually pretty interesting. When I was doing the "visit schools" round last year, property was my go-to class at every law school so I could get a relatively controlled sample, and I found it really interesting. Then again, maybe it's just because I was the only person in the room not worrying about cold-calls or taking notes for the exam.

[naruhodo]

Sweet! A friend of mine did a Fulbright in China a couple years back and she had a total blast. And in a surprising twist, property is actually pretty interesting. When I was doing the "visit schools" round last year, property was my go-to class at every law school so I could get a relatively controlled sample, and I found it really interesting. Then again, maybe it's just because I was the only person in the room not worrying about cold-calls or taking notes for the exam.

Yeah, I'm having an awesome time abroad -- definitely an excellent experience before law school, although I think I'll have to revive my work ethic come August.

Funny that you found property to be interesting. Of course you can still take it at Yale... I'm just glad we have the option not to!

[APimpNamedSlickback]

i am not even applying to yale, but really just wanted to post here once so that perhaps your collective prestige can somehow rub off on me. thank you.

[BlueCivic]

I want to go to there.

[tristanlxboyd]

Yale is definitely my top choice. I'm working on my 250 right now, rather than putting it off any longer. I'm sitting on a 178/3.84, so I'm suffering from the tantalizing possibility of being admitted. I just want to go complete so I can take my mind off of it!

[tinman]

I know it is a bit early still, but if anyone is debating among HLS, SLS, and YLS I am happy to give advice at any time during the cycle. I had a particularly difficult time deciding between SLS and YLS, and I benefited greatly from talking with students at both schools. I have a prior degree in science, so I can perhaps be especially helpful for anyone considering IP or other science-related law. I am glad I choose YLS but I can see the merit to any of these schools.

Congrats to the new admits, and good luck to those still waiting!

[catwoman]

I know it is a bit early still, but if anyone is debating among HLS, SLS, and YLS I am happy to give advice at any time during the cycle. I had a particularly difficult time deciding between SLS and YLS, and I benefited greatly from talking with students at both schools. I have a prior degree in science, so I can perhaps be especially helpful for anyone considering IP or other science-related law. I am glad I choose YLS but I can see the merit to any of these schools.

Congrats to the new admits, and good luck to those still waiting!

...

[tinman]

I know it is a bit early still, but if anyone is debating among HLS, SLS, and YLS I am happy to give advice at any time during the cycle. I had a particularly difficult time deciding between SLS and YLS, and I benefited greatly from talking with students at both schools. I have a prior degree in science, so I can perhaps be especially helpful for anyone considering IP or other science-related law. I am glad I choose YLS but I can see the merit to any of these schools.

Congrats to the new admits, and good luck to those still waiting!

Yes, please do! I'm making that decision, and I may not have time to go to all three ASWs. I'd really appreciate any insights you can provide, including about IP (though my interest is not in patent law).

Sure. First, all three are great schools, so you definitey cannot go wrong with any of them. Each one has their merits, and all are better at somethings.

I personally think Yale is the best of the three for most people. Here are some of the reasons: 1) no grades first semester (really creates a collaborative environment); 2) Yale has the biggest safety net (no grades first semester and virtual grading afterwards; the other two have recently moved to a pass/fail systems but with more distinctions: low pass as well as pass, book prizes [basically high honors] in addition to honors); 3) most flexibility: after first semester, you can pretty much take all blackletter classes with finals or only small seminars or classes with papers (Yale-type classes; at the other two you will have required classes for the whole year; the system at Yale is set up to produce academics (which is great if that's your goal); 4) Yale has the best clerkship placements: from these top schools getting a good firm job should not be too much of a problem, even in this bad economy, but top clerkships are hard to get from everywhere and easiest from here.

Being interested in IP complicates things. Both Stanford and Harvard have dedicated IP faculty, which Yale really does not. Yale always has IP classes, including specialty IP classes by visitig faculty, but it's obviously an advantage to have permanent faculty in your field. That being said, check out the information society project at Yale: http://www.law.yale.edu/intellectuallif ... roject.htm

At lot of the facult associated with the ISP are constitutional law scholars, but that could be fun if you are interested in IP generally (and not just from the patent side)

I actually like the freedom that Yale offers, and it some way I think it is good not to have permanent IP faculty. I believe in salutary neglect for the generation of independent scholarship. But this probably applies to you more if you have interest in being a scholar. If you want to practice IP law, you might prefer to take more blackletter classes in IP law.

I think it is arguable that SLS could be a better place for you to spent your second and third years (given the nice weather and your stated interest in IP). But I absolutely think that YLS is a better place to spend your first year! A better place for almost anyone to spend their first years! Yale is a unique school in general, but its first year cannot really even be compared to other schools.There really is no competition among students the first semester, and it's a lot of fun. And second semester you can already start taking IP and other classes that interest you (there are not required classes second semester).

Also, Yale is the only school I know that allows its students to take clinics second semester. I remember really likely a couple of the clinics at Columbia, and when asked whether I could take more than one or one for more than a semester I was told: it would be great if we could do that, but it would take an unreasonable amount of money. At Yale you can do just that! Whereas most schools will limit you to a semester or two of clinics, you can take 5 semesters of clinics here, no problem. And it's easy to get involved in leading clinics in your second year.

I am not taking a clinic this spring, and many of my most successful 3L friends (that is, have top firm jobs or appeals court clerkships) have never taken clinics. But that's the point. There are tons of paths to success at Yale.

Yale really is what you make of it. If freedom appeals to you, you should definitely come here. Even if freedom doesn't appeal to you, you should still think about coming here (just model you course selections off of the required courses at Harvard or Columbia)!

And you should definitely visit. I visited both SLS and YLS twice (for the ASWs as well as independent trips).

I am happy to answer more questions you may have. And I am happy to meet with you if you visit YLS. Talking to students on campus is the best way to get a feel for the school, I found. Yale and Harvard can both be visited on the same trip (I think you can get a lot out of visits even when they are not during the ASWs).

Also, I encourage you to look through discussions from last year about the ASWs at Stanford and Yale. Your potential future classmate, zabagabe who will be started at Yale next year, had some particularly insightful comments (which can can get to by looking through the forums where I posted last spring). Zabagabe and I were both heavily tempted by Stanford before eventually deciding on Yale. I think we made the right decision, but looking the discussion before we made our decisions (and began our post hoc rationalizations) can perhaps give you a less biased picture of the schools.

[catwoman]

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[tinman]

Thanks! This is incredibly helpful. Just curious: do you have any sense of the strength of legal history at each of these schools? I know Yale has a great reputation for it, but I'm wondering what gives it that reputation apart from the fantastic history faculty outside the law school.

If you are interested in legal history you should definitely come to Yale! So many of the professors here are engaged in historical research and teaching. For example, Bruce Ackerman and Akhil Amar, two of the most cited faculty in the country are both teaching classes next semester that are open to 1Ls on history of the Constitution (and Amar taught a section for 1Ls this fall too). In torts, Guido Calabresi is part of the history of law (especially since he is also a judge on the 2nd circuit), and John Witt has a Ph.D. in History as well as a J.D. (he studies the history of workers' compensation law among other things, law of war, etc.). Yale's main property professor, Ellickson, also specializes in history of property. Daniel Kevles, from the history of science department, famous for his work on eugenics, is currently writing a book on this history of IP. He taught this year at the law school and plans to teach again next year (that is, you will get law school credit for his course).

These are just a few examples. If you are interested in history, I think Yale is the place to be. I have my torts exam in two days, so I should probably go study for that. But I'm happy to share thoughts about this later too.

[catwoman]

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[Pausanias]

Hey folks, I was recently admitted, and it's a no-brainer, so I will be seeing you all in the fall. This thread should be jumpin', let's get it started. I thought I would open it up with a discussion of housing. I personally have a wife, a daughter, and a lab, so it'll be a bit more complex for me, but I say we get some assessments of the various living options in gorgeous New Haven.

[Pausanias]

2 places that are dog-friendly and advertise heavily on Craig's List are Strouse Adler (78 Olive St.) and 900 Chapel St., both managed by PMC --LinkRemoved--. The buildings look beautiful, are centrally located, and are very reasonably priced. HOWEVER, the online reviews of both apartment buildings a vast and overwhelmingly negative, replete with horror stories of awful managers, unresponsive landlords, paper-thin walls, shoddy workmanship, and cheap appliances.

Has anyone heard about these buildings? I am loathe to give up on such seemingly attractive options for dog owners, but how can you ignore these reviews?

[tinman]

2 places that are dog-friendly and advertise heavily on Craig's List are Strouse Adler (78 Olive St.) and 900 Chapel St., both managed by PMC --LinkRemoved--. The buildings look beautiful, are centrally located, and are very reasonably priced. HOWEVER, the online reviews of both apartment buildings a vast and overwhelmingly negative, replete with horror stories of awful managers, unresponsive landlords, paper-thin walls, shoddy workmanship, and cheap appliances.

Has anyone heard about these buildings? I am loathe to give up on such seemingly attractive options for dog owners, but how can you ignore these reviews?

A lot of law students live at 900 chapel. The apartments are quite nice, and I don't think you would be disappointed with the appliances. I think some of the building used to be retail shops, so it is very possible the walls are thin in some places, but that would totally depend of the particular apartment (because much of it is converted space (I think), the apartments differ widely depending on the location). In fact, a couple 3Ls have an apartment there where they frequently have afterparties with music and general merrymaking late until the night. So the walls can't be too thin on their particular apartment!!

I'm not sure whether you can walk your lab on the Green (which as I am sure you know is right in front of 900 Chapel). But if you can, I think 900 Chapel could be an amazing option for you. I am actually shocked they allow dogs.

[lawyering]

im not into yale (yet...crosses fingers), but would love it if you had any thoughts on Y v. H v. S in terms of human rights law. When I visited SLS I was very disappointed by their lack of materials/emphasis on public interest at all--it seemed to be very business/IP oriented. I think Yale would be an amazing place to go for PI work, but any info you have to share would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Pausanias]

Thanks for the info, Tinman, I'll give 900 chapel some serious consideration. I just feel that being in East Rock might get feel a little isolated. Do you think it's necessary to get a monthly garage subscription, or is street parking not bad right near the green?

[tinman]

Thanks for the info, Tinman, I'll give 900 chapel some serious consideration. I just feel that being in East Rock might get feel a little isolated. Do you think it's necessary to get a monthly garage subscription, or is street parking not bad right near the green?

Yes, I think you will need a garage subscription if you decide on 900 Chapel. I love living downtown, but if I had a daughter I might consider living in the suburbs depending on her age. Downtown New Haven is not a place that you would want to have a child walking around by herself. If she is an infant, I would definitely consider living downtown, but if she is a bit older I would want a backyard in one of the neighborhoods north of Yale. It's all personal preference, of course. East Rock can be a bit isolating, but there are some really nice neighborhoods there. And there are some nice shops in and near East Rock. But it will be further from your classmates, which could be a negative depending how much much you are planning to interact with your classmates outside of the law school.